Everything You Need To Know Before Watching SPECTRE - Part I

With the highly-anticipated release of the 24th James Bond film SPECTRE fast approaching, I thought it was appropriate that I, a massive Bond fan, should do my part in ensuring that everyone can enjoy the movie as much as I will.

This special three-part blog post is devoted to explaining the individual story arcs of each of Daniel Craig's three Bond outings, since SPECTRE will require at least some knowledge of the Craig films in order for the viewer to understand the movie.

So, without further ado...

Casino Royale (2006)

Casino Royale was a total reboot of the official James Bond franchise.

Gone were the silly one-liners, the ridiculously stupid gadgets and the camp and cheesy style which defined many of the earlier films (especially the Roger Moore movies from 1973-1985).

The previous outing, 2002's Die Another Day which starred Pierce Brosnan as Bond, took the franchise into unfamiliar and unwelcome territory - Sci-fi.

With a car that could turn invisible and a gadget ring which could shatter glass, it was clear that the franchise needed some serious re-thinking.

Daniel Craig's Bond brought about more realism and vulnerability to the character, as well as plenty of emotion.

The film focuses on Bond's beginnings as a government agent, where he is required to carry out two assigned assassinations in order to be granted his famous "Double-O" status (hence his code number, 007).

Bond's two kills are that of corrupt MI6 Section Chief, Dryden, as well as his contact.

We are then introduced to the movie's main antagonist, Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen), who is banker and financier to the world's terrorists.

Le Chiffre is aided by the shady Mr. White (Jesper Christensen), a representative of a shadowy global terrorist organisation (later to be revealed as Quantum).

The former is introduced to the leader of the resistance army in Uganda, who then agrees to bank several large briefcases full of cash with Le Chiffre.

However, instead of keeping the money safe in his hands, Le Chiffre decides to invest the money into an airline company called SkyFleet. In this, he "bets against the market" as nobody expects the company's stock to drop.

This is all part of Le Chiffre's plan, as he engineers a terrorist attack to destroy the prototype aeroplane at its launch, hence potentially generating massive profits for himself.

His plan, however, is foiled by Bond, and Le Chiffre ended up losing all of his client's money (somewhere in the region of $115 million).

This causes Le Chiffre to fall under immense pressure to recoup all of his client's money, hence he sets up a high-stakes Poker game at the Casino Royale in Montenegro.

With 10 players and a $10 million buy-in, $5 million re-buy (should one be cleaned out during the game), the potential winnings would add up to the amount lost.

MI6 send Bond to play in the tournament, as he is the best player in the service. With the funding provided by the British Treasury, represented by Vesper Lynd (Eva Green), Bond aims to beat Le Chiffre as once he is cleaned out, he would have nowhere to run.

Bond is initially cleaned out after having made a wrong call for Le Chiffre's "bluff", but Bond re-buys in thanks to the CIA's representative, Felix Leiter.

Soon after Bond wins the game, Vesper is abducted by Le Chiffre's men and they use her as bait for Bond (who gives chase in his Aston Martin).

Bond's car is ambushed and he crashes, after which he is captured and tortured for the password to his bank account number for the winnings.

After repeated lashings, Bond still refuses to speak. After which, Le Chiffre is interrupted by Mr. White, who assassinates him for breaking the organisation's trust.

As Bond recovers from his injuries in a home, a romance forms between Bond and Vesper, who takes care of him while he is weak.

Months later, Bond is fully recovered, and confesses to Vesper that he is in love with her.

Having been through the ordeal, Bond decides to tender his resignation to MI6 in order to settle down with Vesper and lead a normal life.

The couple travel to Venice, and after Vesper leaves to "get some money for their honest expenses", Bond is notified by M (Judi Dench) that the money had not been deposited into the Treasury's bank account yet.

Bond realises that he had been double-crossed by Vesper, as he checks her phone to see a message she sent to a certain Gettler to meet where she would hand him the winnings. Bond pursues her and the men with her into a floating building under renovation.

In the ensuing firefight, the floats that keep the building standing are punctured and it begins to collapse.

In the process of the fight, Gettler drops the briefcase filled with the winnings into the water.

After killing all the men, Bond attempts to save Vesper - who locks herself in the elevator and leaves herself to commit suicide due to all the guilt of betraying Bond.

The building collapses and the elevator plunges into the water, where despite Bond's efforts, Vesper drowns to her death.

Bond tries to resuscitate her but to no success, and he is left broken-hearted and betrayed. Meanwhile, Mr. White looks at Bond from a distance, with the briefcase in his hands.

Bond rejoins MI6 and is told by M that Vesper had a boyfriend who was kidnapped by the organisation behind Le Chiffre and Mr. White to blackmail her into co-operation. He is also informed that Vesper agreed to deliver the winnings in exchange for Bond's life.

After checking Vesper's personal effects for the last time before discarding of them, he discovers a text left to him from her containing the contact details of Mr. White.

Bond traces the number to Mr. White's villa along a lake in Italy, and shoots him in the leg.

The story continues in the next film, Quantum of Solace, whose events occur right after that of Casino Royale's.

So that concludes part one of three.

For a better explanation of the plot, please visit the Wikipedia page or just go watch the film (cos it's right up there amongst the very best in the series).

Stay tuned for more Bond.

Cheers.